$656M lost from crypto hacks, scams and rug pulls in H1 2023

Around $215 million worth of stolen assets have been successfully recovered. According to a report by Beosin, a web3 security firm, the total value of cryptocurrencies lost in various scams, hacks, and rug pulls in the first half of 2023 amounted to $656 million. This includes $471.43 million lost in 108 protocol attacks, $108 million in phishing scams, and $75.87 million in 110 rug pulls. Compared to the previous year, there has been a significant decrease in the amount lost to hacks. In 2022, $1.91 billion and $1.69 billion were lost in the first and second halves respectively.

Beosin analysts noted that approximately 45.5% of the stolen assets, totaling around $215 million, have been recovered. This recovery rate is much higher compared to the 8% recovery rate in 2022. Out of the stolen assets, $113 million were transferred to mixers, with $45.38 million going into Tornado Cash and $68.14 million into other mixers.

According to a dashboard created by Beosin and Footprint Analytics, only one project experienced a hack surpassing $100 million. Euler Finance’s flash loan hack on March 13 resulted in the theft of $195 million. However, most of the stolen assets were returned by the hackers, and the firm reopened redemptions on April 12.

The majority of the lost crypto in the first half of 2023, accounting for 75.6%, consisted of coins and tokens built on the Ethereum blockchain. Binance Smart Chain tokens accounted for a much smaller portion, just 2.6% of the stolen assets.

Smart contract vulnerabilities were responsible for the loss of 56% of the stolen crypto, while 21.4% had no clear identifiable reasons for the loss. However, these figures represent a significant decrease compared to the second half of 2021, when a record $2.1 billion in crypto was lost due to hacks, phishing scams, and rug pull.

source